Galleries: Five New Shows in Denver September 16-18

This Third Friday brings new exhibits all over metro Denver, at co-ops and commercial galleries alike. Here are five of the most promising:

Drop City Film Archive, Gildar Gallery

No Go HomeGildar Gallery September 16 through October 15Opening reception: 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, September 16 Adam Gildar’s respected Broadway gallery returns from a break with No Go Home, a group show curated by Los Angeleno Jan Tumlir that explores the reverberations of Colorado’s 1960s art enclave and commune Drop City, where pattern painter Clark Richert and other artists set out to change the world. Did they? The work in this show goes there.

Mark Brasuell

Elaine Ricklin

Mark Brasuell, Blood Elaine Ricklin, Water Eva Darrington, ChromaSpark Gallery Through October 9Opening reception: 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, September 16 Mark Brasuell and Elaine Ricklin bring showy abstract work to Spark in a well-matched duo of shows: Brasuell journals through color and enamel paintings on plastic that reflect on being a patient caught in the fluidity of life and death, while Ricklin explores the world of water through photography that includes sparkling close-ups of light-struck river rocks. Eva Darrington pipes up with another shot of color in the North Gallery. Can’t make the reception? Stop by for coffee with the artists as they close out the show from 2 to 4 p.m. on October 8.

Beau Carey, Goodwin Gallery

Beau Carey: Rabbit Island Patti Hallock: PullGoodwin Fine Art September 16 through November 4Opening reception: 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, September 16 A onetime Denverite now residing in New Mexico, Beau Carey returns to Goodwin Fine Art with another body of work based on an artist residency in natural surroundings. This time, it’s a study of the cliffs, shorelines and blue waters of Lake Superior’s Rabbit Island. Photographer Patti Hallock, new to the gallery, pitches in with a show of work continuing her subjective views of the Western landscape.

Jena Smith

Nonobjective Objects: Ceramic Work by Jean SmithZip 37 Gallery Through October 2Opening reception: 6 to 10 p.m. Friday, September 16 It’s always a party when ceramics artist Jean Smith takes over the Zip 37 co-op. This time, she shows pieces that work together in groupings hung from the ceiling, scattered in interplay on a table or affixed to a wall. And every weekend throughout the show’s run, Smith will host little evening side trips and happenings, including a tandem exhibit of non-objective cut-paper designs by Patricia Gaffney-Kindig on September 22 and 29, a spread of Jean’s swank beaded jewelry on September 23, and a closing reception on September 30.

Valkarie Gallery

Feral Mystics: Sharon Eisley & Valerie SavarieValkarie Gallery Through October 9Opening reception, 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, September 16 Valkarie artists Sharon Eisley and Valerie Savarie team up in Belmar for a show of works that evoke the call of the wild — Eisley with paintings of anthropomorphized animals in surreal settings and Savarie with her intricately cut reinvented books. The drive out to Lakewood will land you in magical places.

Want more? See the Westword event listings for current gallery and art museum exhibitions and openings in the metro area.

Denver native Susan Froyd studied English, Art and finally Journalism at Metro State University of Denver, and also managed movie theaters, sold art supplies and was a buyer in the stationery and greeting card industry, before landing at the weekly Denver newspaper Westword as Arts and Culture Editor in 1992. Twenty-two years of coverage later, she’s still at it and not over her love affair with Denver’s cultural scene. Not so much a critic as she is a cheerleader for the city’s fine- and performing-arts communities, Susan feels privileged to serve all the vibrant artists in all disciplines who make our town a more engaging place to live.